ComplaintsforThornberry Bros., Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Monday, Jan 9, 2023 $59.00 service fee Called Thornberry Bros to relight a pilot that would not stay lit. Also indicated that we wanted to discuss replacing furnace. Service guy said that he could not relight the pilot due to the gas not venting properly. We live in an old house and understand how that works. We then talked about furnace options and he left. Had a different contractor over to discuss furnace options and that is when we discovered that the guy from Thornberry's had physically cut off and removed the working parts to our furnace. He took the parts with him and said nothing. It is winter time and he, in secret, cut out the pilot light and working parts to our furnace. Thornberry Bros has not tried to resolve this. We will be contacting them in the morning. We only just now learned what they did. But, I doubt that they can resolve this. The furnace is very old and the parts he removed are not replaceable. He took away our option of having the furnace fixed (possibly) and properly vented. The only reason a person would do this would be to create a heating crisis so we would be forced to have an immediate resolution instead of being able to shop around.

  

  Business response

  01/23/2023

  The following service call was handled the way that we handle every service call. WE charge a diagnostic fee for every service call we do. Our technician cam out originally to see about repairing the Furnace. He loaded the parts in his truck to take back to our shop so he could make the repairs in a better setting where we have other testing tools. After doing this our technician realized that the customer had further major issues and we could not do the repairs we were originally going to do because it would create an unsafe environment for the home. We then proposed replacing the furnace and we have not heard back from them saying they would still like for us to do the quote. The old (bad) parts were returned to the customer as they did not want to proceed. We did not give a refund because we tell every customer the diagnostic fee is due whether or not they choose to proceed with the repairs / quote to replace. Thank You!

  Customer response

  01/30/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  1/12/23
  The pilot light to our furnace went out. We called to have the pilot relit and for a new furnace estimate. There was a venting issue and the furnace could not be turned back on. The tech was to return the next day with some estimates and to take. There was no mention that he had removed the part.
  1/13/2023
  The tech returned with options and took measurements. We were to get actual numbers Wednesday.
  1/14/2023
  We scheduled for estimates and called to see if they had worked up an estimate yet. He did not receive a return call. It was late afternoon with a different vendor when we discovered the entire burner section of our furnace was missing. 
  1/15/2023
  My husband called in the morning regarding the missing furnace piece. He was told that they told me they removed the part and that they would bring it back that day. The technician arrived at the house around 11:00 am with the missing part. I did not allow him back in the house to reinstall it. We discussed the issue and agreed to consider it a miscommunication. He seemed surprised that we were getting other estimates and then said, “That’s probably for the best since we weren’t going to be able to get anything in for six weeks.”

  1) At no point was I informed that they had cut off and removed our furnace burner system.
  2) Why remove a furnace part to clean when you cannot turn the furnace back on? and a new furnace is going to be installed?
  3) Assuming you did take the part to clean, why did he not bring it back on Tuesday when he returned? Why did we have to call and demand that the part be returned?
  So their explanation is some-what factual, but it is skewed to portray themselves as completely innocent and all the blame is on our end.

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